Leonine confrontations with wildebeest herds are well-documented, and any nature-documentary fan knows that the intimidating-looking antelope may occasionally take on and knock over the apex predator. This works much better when they have more people on their side.
However, a viral video recently circulated of an African lion hanging on an acacia tree a few feet above the ground, with a gang of buffaloes watching from a distance in the background.
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The lion looks to have climbed the tree out of panic and is clearly in the most vulnerable predicament of its life. The scared large cat was visibly gasping for air as it waited for the onslaught of bovines to pass. Nothing conveys the comfort that comes with statistics better than this video.
“Lion clambing on tree for save his life fr Heard of buffalo,” the caption read.
It initially debuted on Instagram and has been seen about 8 lakh times since then.
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The bizarre incident elicited a variety of opinions online, with the majority of people finding it amusing.
“‘Mufasa, get down, dude. ‘You’re making us look bad.’ “He’s probably already wounded and can’t run,” one of the comments said.
“Sometimes the hunter becomes the pursued,” remarked another.
In another recent video, a wildebeest looked to be soaring over two lions to cross a stream of water while a full pride of lions followed it.
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The lion has long been regarded as the top predator in its natural environment. In the African savannah, it has no natural predator, and given the distinctly high skeletal muscle proportions, any species or subspecies will have to wait out the present stage of development to come close to matching up with the king of the jungle.
